Three miners hack at chunks of sulphur as volcanic smoke billows around them

Workers at the Kawah Ijen volcano travel into its depths several times a day to haul up to 90 kilos of sulphur up to the surface.

Photographer Fabian Muir decided to visit the mines after seeing Michael Glawogger’s documentary entitled “Workingman’s Death,” which explored the extreme working conditions of low income workers around the globe.

Plumes of smoke waft out of the crater where many workers do not wear any protection gear

Muir said: “His portrayal of the sulphur miners particularly fascinated me. On many levels it had a sense of conditions that might have looked much the same 200 years ago and I found it shocking that people should be working like this in the ‘modern’ era.

Two miners and a photographer start the epic journey back to the rim of the volcanic crater

Fabian said: “The smell of the sulphur is tolerable until one gets caught in the smoke. With the wind shifting around unpredictably it’s a question of when this will happen rather than if, and the fumes are very toxic.

“If they envelop you it’s literally impossible to breath and completely blinding. A few of the miners have primitive gas masks, but a great many work without any protection.